Yeah, unfortunately no firsthand reports by me this year, but you all are more than welcome to write up your own post-fest comments and give us colorful, intoxicated recaps.

My sober thanks in advance to all.

I realize I did a post like this last year too, but I still find it rather incredible that every year people end up paying more than double the face value of a Decatur Beer Festival ticket to spend an afternoon on the Square with thousands of others, throwing back half-full tasting glasses of various craft brews.

I mean, I love this fest as much as the next person, but the going rate on eBay and Craigslist is around $80 a ticket!  That’s some serious drinking money!

What is it about this festival that makes people sell first-borns to get through the gate?  It can’t just be getting drunk…because anyone can easily get drunk with $80.  Is it the drunken comradery?  The choice selection?  The brewery stickers in inappropriate places?

The city’s Cheryl Burnette noted during this evening’s city commission meeting that the list of beers for this year’s craft beer festival is already available on the festival’s website.

And so it is.

First off, they do exist.

Even though it was announced last week that tickets for this year’s Decatur Beer Festival had sold out in 12 short days, there are still unsold tickets out there.

How and why is this possible?  It all has to do with excessive number of people who jump up and volunteer for this event.

The city’s Linda Harris explains…

Here is what happened: We always have more volunteers than we have spots so the committee decided to hold back a limited number in order to allow those who did not get a volunteer spot the opportunity to purchase tickets. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We had no idea the event would sell out so fast so early. In retrospect, the committee said they should have just placed all of them online at the same time and they will do so next year.

Live and learn.

These “extra” tickets will be made available on October 1st, after final decisions have been made on festival volunteers.  So, if you’re still in need, you might want to jump over to Ticket Alternative on 10/1 and search for tickets.  I’m not sure exactly how many tickets are left, but I’m sure they won’t last more than a couple hours.

This story has been confirmed independently by both the city of Decatur and Ticket Alternative.

I’m not sure what the heck happened, but after I received word from a very reliable source late last week that all Decatur Beer Festival tickets had been sold, I received this “Tweet” from TicketAlternative.

@DMetro more Decatur Beer Featival tickets will be released soon. Follow @TixAlt_GA for details

So, what the heck happened?  I’m not entirely sure, but I’ll certainly let you know if and when more tickets magically appear online.

First on DM: An anonymous tipster informs DM that the 4,500 tickets available for the October 17th Decatur Beer Festival have sold out.

Let the Craigslist price-gouging commence.

Mark your calendar!  Decatur Beer Festival tickets go on sale August 24th!

No seriously, mark it right now or you will forget, it will sell out, and you’ll be really upset with yourself and you’ll end up lashing out at others.  It won’t be pretty.

Or you can just keep checking in at DM.  I’ll remind you.

Oh, also…The Decatur Minute just passed the word that the 2009 Beer Festival website is now up.  Check ‘er out!

My wife wonders whether this little mustachioed, bowler hat-wearing dude, who staggered into a page 3 article about grant proposals in the July Focus, is the winning logo for this year’s beer festival.

If so, I’m making sure to adopt his slightly European look for the festival: mustache, bowler hat and heels.  Then instead of sipping the beer, I’m going to toss it into my mouth just like little Jacques up there.

Oh man I’m going to be classy.

Don’t let the dying azaleas fool you.  Festival season is upon us.

• The Decatur Green Fest is less than a month a way!  On Saturday May 2nd, be ready a sample an endless array of green consumer goodies up on the Square, all in the name of the environment!  Green music will be provided by an array of green musicians throughout the day.
• Dave at InDecatur notes that Decatur Beach Party tickets are already available online for $5 each on Ticket Alternative.
• The Decatur Minute announces that its time to start designing logos for the “I Will Volunteer For Other Festivals Just To Volunteer For This Festival” Festival!  The winner gets their logo all over everything, $300 to pregame with, two tix to the Beer Fest, and two beer-soaked t-shirts (trust me, they will be).  So get to work!  Because I’m sure that Lauren has already noticed there isn’t a “you can’t win more than once clause.”

Beautiferous weather for the beer festival this year! A few pics of the fun,,,

Crowds gather for alcohol

Men in Green Furry Pants Always Get the Women

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